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Neurodiversity
Conversations to have with your community: * To what degree does your community intend to commit labor and intention towards your members' emotional and psychological needs? * What commitment does your community have to being a space accessible to neurodivergent individuals? * What resources and support are available to individuals, both from the commune and from the local community? * Under what circumstances will the community deem themselves to be unable to support an individual and seek outside help, and in what form would that help take? Emotional and Psychological Needs in Community Community is a place where people live together and support each other. Members work together through conflicts, tragedies, and life changes. Addressing members' emotional needs can be a primary or peripheral component of a communal culture. Some communities have intentional therapeutic focus that allow them to provide strong support for their members. Other communities consider their members' internal lives as beyond the scope of community consideration. In either case, individual mental health is an issue that affects an entire community. When people share their homes, work, and daily lives with each other, an individual's mental health crisis can disrupt the entire community. As a result, some individuals hide their impending crisis until it becomes overwhelming. Having organized methods of seeking and providing emotional support before a crisis arises can help the community and individual experience. Keep in mind that other members can be greatly affected by an individual's mental health crisis. It's important to establish boundaries around the capacity of individuals in the community to provide support, and figure out when a crisis is unable to be contained within the community setting. Examples of Organized Emotional Support Peer Counseling, such as Re-evaluation Counseling™, where pairs of individuals provide compassionate listening and feedback to each other. Group Therapeutic Meetings, such as recovery and sobriety support, or other groups of people who are interested in certain approaches to wellness. This could include groups with a direct intention of therapeutic intervention, but also groups aimed at general wellness, such as exercise or mindfulness. Mental Health Committee, or a known collection of individuals who are willing to be approached for emotional and crisis support. Members should be clear about what they're signing up for and what are their boundaries and limitations. This could include being available for peer counseling, crisis intervention, or directing individuals to other resources. Individual Crisis and Support Plans Depending on your community, you might want every individual to have a support plan, or it might become important to have certain individuals maintain such plans. These plans could include: * Support teams (individual members who commit to supporting the focus person in a crisis) * Crisis management plans (how others can take responsibility when the focus person is unable; under what circumstances can extreme measures can be taken) * Wellness plans (how to maintain balance and identify triggers and early warning signs of potential crisis) Resource: Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP). Mental Health Legal Process (in the United States) When a person is having a severe mental health crisis and might be a danger to themself or others, and the community cannot support them, it becomes a problem that may involve doctors, police, and other public health professionals. Disclaimer: This wiki does not advocate for police intervention without considering your action in your societal context. Please consider Alternatives to Police before engaging in the legal system. An advanced medical directive is helpful in providing guidance in the event of involuntary commitment. This directive can name a community member who can make medical decisions for the affected individual and describe how the individual would like to be treated under different circumstances. Look for local resources and have them available before a crisis. In the United States, your local Community Services Board provides publicly-funded services for mental health, intellectual disability, and substance abuse. A person who is a danger to themself or others can be involuntarily committed to a hospital for evaluation for competency (the length of detainment before evaluation depends by state). When brought to a hospital, the person must admit in front of the triage nurse, a police officer or a social worker to being a danger (e.g., walking into traffic, suicidal intent just ideation, attacking another person). If you are related to the person, you will be able to swear to their being dangerous to themself or others. Otherwise (depending on state), you might have to get a court order in order for the person to be admitted involuntarily to an inpatient facility. Resources: Mental Health America's Position Statement 22: Involuntary Mental Health Treatment Original Brainstorming * Emotional and therapeutic support * A shared style of communication and emotional support can allow people to solve conflicts and support one another effectively. * A culture of open communication can allow people with emotional volatility to express themselves in healthy ways. Transparency Tools are an example of fostering open communication. * Therapeutic focus of community * Each community will define for itself what emotional labor is considered necessary or desirable. Co-counseling or other emotional support can be encouraged by defining it as community labor, or creating systems to make it easier for communards to engage with each other. * Individuals within the community can create space for emotional support. * Limits of community support capability. What can and can't the community provide? * Some communards have greater emotional support needs than others. Community members must decide to what degree they feel comfortable providing support. * Making efforts to keep decision making and labor systems accessible to different thinking/working/learning styles. Being willing to adapt processes when necessary. * providing access to resources for people with different needs. * Having a plan on how to deal with a mental health crisis if it arises; under what circumstances is it okay to call to police, for example? * Having an advanced medical directive (giving your legal decision making power to other community members with instructions of what you want, so they can make medical decisions for someone if they are deemed incompetent by a doctor.) ** Subsection on mental health legal process in the US Related Pages on this Wiki ((Culture)) ((Member Acculturation)) ((Community Glue)) ((Communication and Conflict Resolution)) *((Clearnesses)) *((Transparency Tools)) Existing Resources Articles and wiki pages from the FIC: *"Mental Illness in Community- What Can We Offer?" *"Innisfree: Lifesharing with Adults with Mental Disabilities" *"Tough Grace" *"Rx for 'Mental Illness'" *"Gifted, Mad and Out of Control" Some blog posts written by Paxus: *"Madness- It takes a village" *"Farewell, Allen" *"An angel pushed me down the stairs"